


The Swimsuit

by jecooksubether



Series: Tigereans and Weres [5]
Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Gen, Original Fiction, POV First Person, Shapeshifting, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26364370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jecooksubether/pseuds/jecooksubether
Summary: Tigers, unlike most small domestic cats, don't mind water, and like a good swim.  The author discovers that the aliens he's befriended/working with also like a good swim, especially in Arizona summers. :)
Series: Tigereans and Weres [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914835





	The Swimsuit

**June 1st, 2010**

It had finally started to heat up properly in the Valley, and Tuesday was definitely a hot one. This fact was not lost on Sh’Meral, Ch’Mrr, and T’Grlf, the uplift master I was apprenticed to during weekends and off time from work; they had made me painfully aware of this fact.

‘How do you humans _live_ in this heat?!’ had been asked of me not 20 seconds after they came inside. They’d come from meeting in east Phoenix in one of the late-model SUVs they had purchased for future modification and retrofitting. After I handed each of them a liter bottle of water from the fridge and stopped chuckling, I explained how I kept the rental house I was in cool.

“... and that’s why we call them ‘swamp coolers’. Of course, when it gets too hot and humid out for that to be effective, I go and jump in the pool out back to cool off.” The looks I got almost caused another chuckling fit.

“Can we use it?” Sh’Meral said making what could only be called googly eyes at me.

I nodded. “Sure, let me get something rigged to keep eyes from poking any more than needed, and get some appropriate clothing for everyone to wear.”

I went into my bedroom and rummaged around in one of the drawers, at the same time triggering the shift from my normal human form to the tiger-human hybrid form that was now part of who I was. I was at least thankful that my clothing mostly fit me in this form as I pulled on one of the three pairs of swim trunks I had dug out. I also pulled out a dark colored shirt and some shorts which I figured might fit Sh’Meral and returned out to the back room where the three had gathered.

I placed the suits on the table and I said, “These swim trunks should fit each of you. Sh’Meral, unfortunately I have nothing in the way of swim wear for you, but I hope these might fit and provide some modesty.” I sat down in one of the chairs and started channeling the energy I needed to activate the back yard’s screening spell.

The screening spell was a ‘school project’ from my tutoring with the Archmage of the Earth. It was a simple thing, but it required a bit of focus to activate. Putting my attention to the small focusing crystals I had placed in the back yard and fixing the spell into position, I activated it. Outside its area of effect, nothing out of the ordinary appeared to happen audibly and visually. As it grew dark, the area it protected would grow dark as well, while inside the area of effect, we had privacy from the snooping cameras that the LCA agents had placed to view the back yard and from the neighbors. While I trusted the neighbors a great deal, there were things I didn’t want them seeing and me in my alternate forms was one of them. I checked the indicator I had placed on the patio to verify that everything was working. Satisfied, I grabbed the bathhouse key and opened the door to the patio. While I had nothing to fear out on the patio (it had a more permanent version of the same spell on the privacy panels I had built), I was still cautious.

After opening the patio door and the bathhouse, I kicked the interior lights on and checked to make sure there were enough towels. The pool was joyously cool compared to the 100 plus air temperature, and it was a treat to climb in. I ducked my head underneath for a bit and as I came back up, I saw Ch’Mrr examining the ladder. I made my way over.

“I know it looks flimsy, but it’ll hold. I made some changes that are not readily apparent.” T’Grlf shrugged and cautiously climbed in. Sh’Meral came out of the house still dressed in her tunic. At my curious look, she came over and stated that the clothing I gave her did not fit properly. I apologized, but she said “No worries. I’ll stay out here for a little bit.”

I looked over at T’Grlf, who was gingerly making his way around the pool’s edge. He made a single circuit, and then promptly climbed out. He commented as he climbed out that while he was thankful for the cool water, swimming was not something he enjoyed. I nodded as Ch’Mrr handed him a couple towels and led him back inside the house. I looked at Sh’Meral as I heard the patio door close. “What was that all about?”

Sh’Meral had this slightly embarrassed look on her face. “T’Grlf has a slight fear of drowning, due to a traumatic experience as a child.”

My face grew into a look of horror. She continued, “We have been working with him to overcome this fear, but it still has a bit of an effect on him.”

I nodded blankly. “I shall have to do something for him to make up for inflicting this upon him.”

She shook her head. “No. This is not your fault, and there is no blemish on your honor. In fact, he may be able to thank you for this if he can work this fear out by the end of the summer. In any case, while they are busy inside, I can get some time in the pool. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

Before I could respond, the tunic went one way, she went the other, and within a few seconds she made a failed attempt at pulling my swim trunks off. {C’mon! If I had to, you have to!} Fortunately, all she did was pull me under, and I had a chance to grab a breath before I got pulled down. However, by the time I managed to get surfaced, my trunks were not on my body, and Sh’Meral had a very amusing grin on her face. “I thought you knew that we have a strange sense of modesty- our fur hides almost everything, at least on me.”

 _Two can play this game_ I thought. I stuck my tongue out at her, and for the next twenty minutes we played ‘grab the tail’. We ended up surfacing holding onto each other’s tail and laughing. Fortunately, things were not very serious, although I did have to remind her once about keeping her claws in- fortunately, it was the ladder that got the scratch in it, and not the pool wall.

It was a few hours later that Ch’Mrr came out with T’Grlf, and they turned the security lights off and the lights on the bathhouse’s patio on. T’Grlf had a couple chairs with him, while Ch’Mrr had a stack of pizzas from the local take-out place. “I bring a gift of pizza to our dampened friends, yes?”

After we all stopped laughing, Ch’Mrr climbed into the pool. Unfortunately, he missed one of the steps coming in, and fell in with a great splash. After he surfaced, we made sure that he was ok. The four of us talked for about an hour in regards to how tigereans deal with water, and how the hot months on their home world were dealt with in general. Finally, I had to come clean.

“I have an ulterior motive behind asking you about this subject. I understand it’s horribly difficult to go anywhere in public, with the press and the crowds.” I got nods all around. “I have a proposition for you. Every year, my employer rents out one of the water parks as a way of thanking the employees. You could attend as my guests at this private party.” I let them think on this for a bit while I took the opportunity to locate the swim trunks that had been pulled off me earlier.

I was pulling them tight when Ch’Mrr said, “I can foresee a problem with this. Let us dry off and plot this out.”

It took a good two hours to dry out all our fur, during which we worked out what we hoped was a suitable plan for Sh’Meral to safely visit places. The thing is, we needed to test it first. We also needed to get Sh’Meral a swimsuit, as there was no way on this planet they’d let her in without one. Fortunately, I had a plan that would kill both birds with one stone. “Let me make a phone call- one of my friends is a seamstress and can either modify an existing suit or make one. We’ll need her to measure you anyway for sizing, and this stands as a good way to test our plan- I know her well enough that she won’t talk if it doesn’t work..”

Ch’Mrr nodded. “Good idea. Make it happen.”

==========

It was two days later and we had pulled up to my friend’s house in another recently purchased SUV. This one was a ‘gently used’ Jeep Liberty from a car rental company. While the chassis and interior was decent looking, the drive train was badly abused. This made it ideal for the assignment that T’Grlf had given me for my journeyman’s test on how well I understood what they had taught me of their technology.

Using only earth sourced parts, one of their basic design workstations, and the ‘uplift sample’ of their basic portable power generator to supply motive power, I was to design a drop-in replacement for the drive train of this SUV that would be inexpensive to mass produce, and reused as much of the parts and accessories from the old drive train as possible.

I was busy getting the design worked out, so in the mean time we were gimping this poor thing along. It was definitely keeping me busy, as it was all either stuff I could sneak in during work, or do on weekends or evenings. T’Grlf understood my time crunch and had no problem with it. I checked on our passengers as I parked the small SUV and turned the engine off. Sh’Meral had packed a duffel bag with a couple outfits in it for reference; she was dressed in something a bit more stylish then a simple tunic, but had left the cloak and armor at the embassy when I picked them up. Ch’Mrr was already stepping outside to provide cover in the event something bad happened. We all went up to the door and I knocked.

“Come in!” I heard a voice say, not who I was expecting.

 _This will be interesting_ , I thought as I opened the door. “Greetings; I bring visitors.”

As we all filed in, I saw her house freshly through Ch’Mrr’s eyes: Swords and other martial weapons hanging high on the walls, toys scattered in front of a large TV, and a couple desks in the corner, one with a computer and Mikaela’s various trinkets and stuff on it. Another friend of mine, Ama, sat on the couch dividing the room along with Trevor. I could hear Mikaela‘s voice from the table and could see out of the corner of my eyes the remaining two kids still at the table.

I ‘pathed a short [ _Everything’s OK; I know everyone in here_ ] to Ch’Mrr, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his arm move back down from where his stunner was holstered. Ama‘s eyes just about doubled in size along with Trevor‘s, and I knew this was going to be interesting. Mikaela looked around the corner as Ch’Mrr closed the front door behind him. Before she could say anything, I started in.

“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to my friends: Sh’Meral and Ch’Mrr of the Srrn’th clan of the Tigerean empire. Ch’Mrr is the head of security to the Ambassador’s group, and Sh’Meral is the Ambassador’s personal assistant.” We gingerly moved in a bit so everyone was in view, and I finished the introductions. “Sh’Meral, Ch’Mrr, These are my friends: Ama, Mikaela, her son Trevor, her middle daughter Evelyn, and youngest daughter Abagail.”

I closed my eyes, pulled myself just enough into hybrid so I could access the pool of magic I had without anything actually _showing_ , and opened my mind to see if there was anyone else in the house. Ryan was in the house finishing up with getting dressed for his work shift. “There is also Ryan, whom you will meet in about two minutes or thereabouts as soon as he finishes dressing.” Opening my eyes, I could see Mikaela and Ama just staring, with Mikaela staring at me rather than the two aliens I brought in. I put on my very best ‘innocent’ look, and waited for her brain to finish re-engaging.

Trevor broke the ice first and said “Hi!”

Sh’Meral bowed formally and returned the greeting. “Hello, young one. I am honored to meet you and your family.”

Mikaela gave me a look that would have melted hull metal, and said “Welcome to my home. I am honored to receive you. I apologize for the condition of the house. Tigger didn’t tell me whom I would be meeting, and I didn’t have time to clean.”

Sh’Meral shrugged. “It was my idea- He should have no blame attached to him. As Ch’Mrr can relate; it seems that everywhere he goes with the ambassador, people make an immense effort to make sure that everything is clean, tidy, and perfect. We do not have such pretenses.”

Ch’Mrr came down to his knees and said in his fake accent, “I apologize for being too tall for your magnificent house. Am comfortable on knees as well as feet, yes? This way, I not look down on people as much.”

At that moment, Ryan came out and did a double take. I repeated my introduction for him, and he apologized that he could not spend more time, as he had to leave for work. Ch’Mrr nodded and said, “Is OK. Will hopefully see again soon. Was honor to meet you and family. Thank you.”

As this happened, the two girls used this opportunity to go up to Sh’Meral and not only say hi, but to hug her, something which she knelt down and returned. Sh’Meral apparently picked up on the small surprise I had and ‘pathed to me: {One of the potential sites we visited was a daycare in Alabama; It went fine until one of the parents took a shot at Ch’Mrr, unfortunately.}

I nodded slightly the comment, and Mikaela got my attention by smacking my hand with a wooden spoon. “You owe me an explanation, mister.”

It took a good ten minutes to explain everything to both Mikaela and Ama, and once I finished, Mikaela excused herself, herding the kids to bed before we continued. As she left with Ama and the kids to hustle them to bed, Sh’Meral took the opportunity to explore the front portion of the house, winding up back in the living room. Ch'Mrr made his way to the couch and sat down as carefully as he could, and we exchanged a few ‘pathed comments.

{Do you think they are buying it?}

[ _I think so; Ryan for the most part bought it hook line and sinker, if only because he was in a hurry to get to work. The kids probably bought it because they didn’t know better, although it wouldn’t surprise me if the oldest busted us; he’s pretty damned smart, and when he behaves he manages to do pretty good. Mikaela and Ama? Unknowns at this point, although I’m leaning toward the ‘bought it’ side._ ] Sh’Meral had picked up one of the chairs and turned it to face the living room, and gingerly sat in it. I had simply sat on the floor with my back leaning against the back wall of the house as Mikaela and Ama returned, Mikaela with her seamstress kit in tow.

“So, let me see if I have this correct. You need me to measure her,” Mikaela pointed a finger at Sh’Meral- “and either buy a swim suit off the rack and modify it to provide for her tail, or make one from scratch. You also want me to modify an off the rack set of trunks for him?”

I nodded. “We are more than willing to pay for the time and materials, with the money for the materials in advance.”

Sh’Meral opened her duffel, and pulled the trunks out. “Here are the trunks. I also have some samples of fabric and outfits that we wear on my world to use for reference.”

Sh’Meral ducked into the bathroom to change into the suit they used for the thermal and bio-interface functions on their spacesuits. She said that this way, accurate measurements could be taken. She also had an extra set in the duffel for reference. “These are fitted via computer and automatic tailoring for each individual, and should work ideally for reference material,” she had explained.

After she left, Mikaela looked at me. “So Tigger, what’s your part in this? How did you get involved with them?”

I glanced at Ch’Mrr and ‘pathed, [ _How much should I tell them?_ ]

His reply was instant. {As much as you feel you can trust them with.}

I gave them the ‘official’ sanitized version which we had all agreed upon for when I contacted vendors for the various uplift projects I was doing. Mikaela had nodded at all the right points along with Ama, but at the end Mikaela saw through a good chunk of it and called my bluff. “OK, that would convince people who don’t know why I call you what I call you. No bull this time around.”

Ch’Mrr butted in, dropping the accent. “I had wondered about that, actually. That nickname is not too far along from the truth, if what I’ve seen of the cartoon character is correct.”

Ama looked at Ch’Mrr and smirked. “I thought the accent was faked.”

Ch’Mrr’s ears twitched in humor and the accent came back as thick and blatant as ever. “Yes, but is good disguise, no? Goes along with ‘big, dumb, strong security man’, yes?”

Sh’Meral had come back by this time, and as Mikaela started working, I told the entire story to two of the better friends that I had made. I added a bit of flair as I started by flash-shifting to hybrid.

“I am _so_ glad that I modified all my pants and underwear with Velcro butt-flaps in the event I had to shift and blow my tail out the back.” This had gotten giggles from the crew. it was about ten minutes afterwards that Mikaela had taken down all the measurements, and had gone off to the local box store to find a couple pair of suitable suits to modify and shuttle Ama back home. This left the three of us to make sure the kids stayed in bed, and to chat. I tried to keep Sh’Meral and Ch’Mrr entertained.

Sh’Meral was busy doing _something_ to my headfur, since when I shifted it tended to flow out a good foot and a half down my back, regardless of me wanting it to or not. Since she was tugging at it from both sides, I suspected that I was going to end up with a pair of ponytails this time around. I had also dropped an audible and visual distortion bubble around the house after I shifted, which I suspected Mikaela knew of, but I’d quiz her privately on that later. I figured worst case, she probably wouldn’t talk. I had been told that paranoia was the watchword by the Archmage, and there was no way in hell I was going to try and defy him. Ch’Mrr was doing what he normally did, looking bored, but if you looked long enough, you could tell it was faked, and that he was actively scanning around for threats of any kind.

I saw the flicker of his ear as Mikaela‘s van pulled back in, and we were prepared when she opened the front door.

She looked at me point blank. “What did you do to my house? There’s a giant shield that I could see surrounding it as I left, and things sounded and looked slightly different from the outside.”

 _Shit_. I sighed, and felt Sh’meral tug painfully at my new ponytails.

{Shut up and let me handle this- I can get away with using magic on this planet more then you can.}

“One reason I was selected as part of the Ambassador’s staff was because I can use magic. The bubble is a privacy field which masks noises and keeps people and cameras from snooping. It would seem that you are able to see magic fields, however.”

She then put on her own cheesy accent. “Boris. You know what this means, yes?”

Ch’Mrr nodded. “Da, Natasha. It means Moose and Squirrel are close. We should start looking around, da?”

Mikaela just sat there and started smiling. I decided to break things up. “This will probably be a discussion for another day, however. I’m assuming you found something, uh, _suitable?_ ”

I didn’t get a chance to duck as the bag was thrown at me. I looked inside and said “I think this will work.”

Handing it to Sh’Meral, I looked back up at her and said, “Your turn.”

She got up and pulled the two suits out. After studying them for a moment, she went to put it on, and Mikaela pretty much dragged her into a back room to discern the extent of the modifications that would be needed. This left Ch’Mrr and myself in the living room. I decided to pass the time and poked at the remote for the TV.

It was about twenty minutes later that they returned, and Mikaela declared that her suits would be ready in two days. She did want to see that they were fitted properly, however, which meant a small pool party. Now it was Ch’Mrr’s turn, and they went back.

Sh’Meral leaned over to me and whispered in my ear “She told me a few things about you.” As she started rattling them off, I could feel my ears turn beat red. I have never been so embarrassed in my life, but she made up for it all with the simple phrase of “She agrees that we make a good couple, even in your human form.”

This was cause enough for me to shift back, and I was just getting the butt-flaps re-closed when Ch’Mrr came back out. I learned right then and there that tigereans could blush, and Mikaela had this amused look on her face. I sighed, took my glasses off, and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Ah, Alien Anatomy 101. Brings back memories. Yep, that’s all of them.” Sh’Meral was on the ground and hiccuping before she stopped laughing, and both Ch’Mrr and Mikaela were glaring at me.

It was two days later that Mikaela came by and dropped the finished suits off at my place. I was by myself ankle deep in design work when she came by.

“Right- pause.” I came to the door, and let her in. “Please, come in.” As I led her into the back room, she stopped dead. On top of a large dining room table in the back room was a blue-white rectangular cube with the design display of the Liberty’s right rear wheel in 3-D. It was a true Holotank, and she looked at me.

“What are you doing, and is that a holographic display?”

I nodded. “Yep. This is my homework- I _did_ tell you that I’m training as one of their uplift coordinators in my spare time, right? The machine that drives it is one of their workstations, and there’s a network translator box that lets me pull and push data to and from it. There’s also a small portable power converter sitting around as well. Officially, you never saw any of this, is this clear?”

She nodded. “I brought the suits with.”

I nodded. “Splendid! Let me make a quick call.” I turned to the tank and told it to save the file and shut down. As the tank disappeared, I pulled out the comm unit I had been given and called Sh’Meral. “Your suits are here. You driving over, or…” I trailed off as the area I had taped off in the room started glowing green. “Never mind, see you shortly.”

Mikaela looked at me as the glow coalesced into a pair of creatures. Ch’Mrr and the Ambassador stepped out and I bowed. “Good afternoon ambassador. Welcome back to my home.”

Ch’Mrr _chuffed_ in greeting, and the Ambassador stepped silently over to the coat rack, and took her cloak off, and shucked her armor onto the sidebar next to it. Mikaela turned to face me. “No more lies, then. It is my honor to introduce you to Sh’Meral, Lead Ambassador of the Tigerean trade empire to Terra. Allow me to get you something to drink as she reveals the reason for our deception two nights ago.” I went and grabbed a tray and four glasses of water as Sh’Meral explained the reason to my friend and presented her with a pair of certificates- one in _trrth_ , and an English translation.

It was a half hour later that we were all dressed in our well-fitted swim suits and splashing around in the pool. Sh’Meral had promised me that she would not engage in any removal of swim trunks while we had guests over. Mikaela didn’t hold to that, and I’m glad that I was not the only target of such scandalous behavior, although Ch’Mrr didn’t seem to mind the attention.


End file.
